Fairy Tails
by WannabeeAussie
Summary: A series of one-shots loosely inspired by famous fairy tales from around the world, set in the H2O universe! Each chapter is a different story and focuses on different characters.
1. Chapter 1

"I still don't think we can trust her." Rikki insisted, slapping the water with her tail. "What if this is like Charlotte all over again?"

"I think she's nice." Bella said.

"Yeah, and remember when Bella first came to town?" Cleo reminded Rikki. "You didn't trust her at first, and now look at us."

"I don't know...there's just something _off_ about her." Rikki said.

"She invited me for a swim later, so I'll try to find out more about her. I'll prove she's trustworthy." Cleo said.

Rikki sighed and submerged, swimming through the underwater Moon Pool tunnel to go work a shift at the cafe.

"I've got to go, too. I wish I could swim with you guys." Bella said. "You two should come to Rikki's later on, I'll be singing!"

"Okay, I will." Cleo said. "See you." Bella swam off, too.

The girls had been having yet another intense discussion about the newest mermaid on the Gold Coast, Ursula. Rikki had met her first when they swam into each other by the reef. Cleo and Bella met her later on land. Ursula was a bit weird and sort of shy, but she was nice enough. Rikki didn't trust her, though.

Cleo didn't know much about Ursula, so she was hoping that the new girl would open up more after their swim today. She didn't even know where Ursula came from! Maybe she transformed in a Moon Pool other than the Ireland one and the Mako one. There were probably Moon Pools all over the world, and dozens of more mermaids to meet. The idea that she wasn't alone was very comforting to Cleo.

She hummed by herself for a few minutes before Ursula swam into the pool. Her dark brown hair looked inky black because of the water. She had very pale skin and dark brown eyes. Her tail was orange, just like Cleo and her friends', and she also had a necklace that she wore everyday. It was a small shell with intricate designs on it.

"Hello." she smiled at Cleo. "Ready to go?"

"Yep!" Cleo exclaimed excitedly. "Have you seen the reefs yet? They're beautiful this time of year."

"Actually, I was hoping to go to the other side of the island." Ursula replied. "If you don't mind."

"We can go there, but it can be dangerous. It's a shark breeding ground. We should be safe if there's two of us..." Cleo frowned, remembering the time she went to the shark-infested waters. "We can always use our powers on sharks if they bother us."

"Powers?" Ursula perked up. "You have powers?"

"Yes...don't you?" Cleo frowned. Every mermaid she'd met had some sort of power over water. She'd just assumed that Ursula did, too.

"No. What sort of powers? You mean like swimming really fast?" the other mermaid asked.

"No, not exactly. Bella, Rikki, and I each have a different power over water. Bella can turn it into a jelly-like substance. Rikki can boil water, and I can make it into shapes and stuff. Another mermaid who transformed with Rikki and I, named Emma, could freeze water." Cleo explained. She raised her hand and directed it at a patch of water in the Moon Pool, using her power to raise the water into a perfect sphere.

"Woah." Ursula said, intrigued. She raised her hand and imitated the hand motion that Cleo had used. "Do you think I can do that?"

"Maybe. You might have a power and you just never found out about it. Each power needs a different hand motion to activate it. Maybe later the other girls can show you their powers and we'll try to find out if you have one." Cleo said. She didn't want to patronize the new girl and make her feel bad, so she tried to get away from the topic of powers after that.

The two girls talked a little bit more before swimming out of the pool. Cleo learned that Ursula had grown up in Hawaii, and found a Moon Pool very similar to the one on Mako Island. It was also inside of a dormant volcano. But there was no land entrance and the only way to get inside was through the long underwater passageway, which she had found while scuba diving one night.

Ursula and Cleo swam at a fast, steady pace to the other side of the island. As they went on, they saw fewer and fewer fish and more and more sharks. They swam around and looked at them for a while before surfacing to talk some more.

Ursula pushed her dark hair out of her eyes and had a sad look on her face. "Cleo, thanks for being so nice to me. It hasn't always been this way whenever I've met other groups of mermaids in the past."

Cleo smiled gently. "No problem! I think we're all going to be good friends."

She smiled back. "I'm not so sure about that. You see, I'm leaving town in a few days. And I kind of lied to you about one thing."

"Oh?" Cleo asked.

"I do have a power. Only, it wasn't given to me when I transformed. I acquired mine on my own. You see, I'm not just a mermaid. I didn't find that Moon Pool on accident. I'm also a witch." Ursula began.

Cleo didn't know what to say. "A good witch or a bad witch?" she joked.

"That depends on your perspective. Anyway, I transformed and I didn't receive a power over water like I'd expected. That made me pretty angry. So I created this," she grabbed her shell necklace, "as a way of getting a power."

"I don't understand..." Cleo said. A shark swam past her, brushing the bottom of her tail. She shivered. She wasn't really afraid of sharks, but they still made her nervous.

Ursula rolled her eyes. "I'm a witch. I put a spell on this shell so that it can hold mermaid powers and I can use them if I'm wearing it. I don't have powers, but I can take them from others. See what I'm saying?"

Cleo frowned. She was getting a bad, bad vibe from this. She turned away from the creepy new mermaid and dove beneath the surface. She was just about to begin speed-swimming when she slammed into an invisible wall in the water. Well, it wasn't exactly invisible. It was made out of hardened water.

Cleo surfaced and gasped. She was completely surrounded by a water wall. "You stole Bella's power!" she accused.

"No, I didn't. That one came from a different mermaid in Japan. I have three powers right now. Freezing, heating, and hardening. But I don't have yours..." she smiled. "Yet."

Cleo began shoving her body against the hard walls, but they were too thick to break. She then tried using her power on them, which also didn't work. She was forced to watch helplessly as Ursula held her shell necklace and began to sing in a strange, high-pitched voice. The words weren't English. She wasn't even sure if it was a real language.

Ursula finished singing and Cleo's tail began to disappear. It happened slowly, the scales receding into her skin, the fins separating into legs and toes. Cleo's clothes reappeared and were immediately soaked by the seawater. They were heavy and started to drag her down. Cleo had to move her arms to stay afloat. What used to be a beautiful golden tail was now just her regular legs.

Ursula smiled and made the water walls melt back into the ocean. The waves hit her and Cleo gasped. She couldn't hold her breath the way she used to, either. Her powers had been stolen.

"It was nice to meet you, Cleo." the sea witch smirked at her. "Sorry about this...but it's necessary. Talk to you never."

Cleo wanted to scream, to yell or even to swear at the mermaid who stole her powers. But when she opened her mouth...nothing came out. Cleo clutched her throat. Her voice was gone. Ursula had stolen that, too.

And now Cleo was powerless, treading water hundreds of meters from shore in shark-infested waters.

Xxx

She wasn't sure how many hours it took, but Cleo finally reached the shore of Mako Island. She kissed the ground and immediately regretted it, but the feeling of sand on her lips was so, so sweet after she'd been choking on salt water all day.

She collapsed on the beach, completely exhausted. Swimming had never made her this tired before. She was certain that she wouldn't have been able to make it to shore if it hadn't been for the adrenaline pumping through her, the terror caused by the fact that at any moment a shark could decide that she looked tastier than a fish.

Eventually Cleo wrenched the water out of her clothes and stood up. Her legs felt like jelly, and her shoulders were sore from paddling. She tried to call for help, but once again, not a sound came out of her mouth.

Cleo was certain that if she climbed the volcano to the land entrance to the Moon Pool and waited, one of her friends would come along eventually to rescue her. But would it be soon enough? Cleo needed to get back to the mainland and warn her friends before Ursula could hurt them, too.

But Ursula had told her that she had already stolen powers from mermaids who had Bella and Rikki's powers. Did that mean that now that she had Cleo's power, she would leave town? If that was the case, Cleo would never get her power back. She would be voiceless and tailless forever.

Cleo pulled her phone out of her drenched pant pocket and attempted to turn it on. The screen stayed black. She groaned and threw it into the sand.

She attempted to walk but nearly fell over from the effort. She was well and truly exhausted. She sat down again to rest and tried to think of a plan.

The first step would be to get away from this side of the island. No one passed by here, not fishermen, not her friends, and not any boats. The thought of walking all the way around Mako wasn't appealing, but neither was the thought of Ursula getting away with what she'd done to Cleo.

Once she started walking, she felt stronger. It was a hot day out and so she often walked with her feet in the water to stay cool. She wished she had some water. Her throat was aching from all the salt water she'd swallowed.

Cleo nearly screamed with joy—not that any sound would have come out—when she rounded a corner and saw a familiar boat being staked to the shore. Lewis!

Cleo started running and waving her arms, wishing for the millionth time that she could speak. She had no idea how she would explain this to Lewis without her voice.

Finally, Lewis noticed her and he climbed out of the boat. "Cleo!" he called. "Where have you been? I thought we were meeting at two."

Cleo ran to him and tried to motion to him that she couldn't speak.

"Oh my God, Cleo, are you choking? Do you need me to do the Heimlich?" Lewis asked with eyes full of panic.

Cleo shook her head and again attempted to tell him she'd lost her voice. It was hard. Lewis had never been good at charades.

With an exasperated sigh, Cleo went to Lewis' boat and found his phone. She typed in his password, which she'd known for months, and went to the notes section. There she typed:

I lost my voice. I think the other girls are in danger. We have to go.

Of course, her hands were shaking and she was typing as quickly as she could so there were probably several typos, but Lewis got the message. They got into his boat and sped off. Lewis gave her a towel to put over herself, which she usually did when she was in a boat to protect herself from the sea spray, but now there was no need. Cleo dipped her hand in the ocean and demonstrated to Lewis that she had lost her tail. Lewis was dumb-struck and full of questions, but of course, Cleo couldn't answer them. She used Lewis' phone to type out an explanation of what had happened. By the end of her story, they had reached shore. She gave the phone to Lewis to read and ran to the cafe, where she figured the other girls would be.

Cleo pushed aside the beaded curtain that hung in the doorway of Rikki and Zane's cafe, which they had reopened about a month earlier, and frantically searched for her friends. They were occupying a circular booth in the corner, and they weren't alone. Ursula was sitting across from them, directly facing Cleo.

She tried to hide before the witch saw her, but it was already too late. Ursula wore an expression of complete surprise. The black-haired girl stood up and rushed over to Cleo. They proceeded to play an almost child-like game of tag, weaving around the tables trying to avoid or catch the other. Cleo tried to reach her friends but every time she came close, Ursula was right there. She had no choice but to get physical.

With all the strength she had left, Cleo shoved the shorter girl into the nearest empty table and ran up to her friends. They clearly had no idea what was happening.

"Cleo!" Bella exclaimed. She stood up and attempted to help Ursula, but Cleo wouldn't let her get near the evil mermaid. She shook her head and used every motion she could think of to get her friends' attention. They barely paid her any attention, instead focusing on Ursula, who was now bleeding from a broken glass she'd fallen on.

Cleo ran to the counter and grabbed a napkin and a pen. She began furiously writing down everything that had happened to her, tearing the thin napkin so many times that it was barely legible. She handed it to a very bewildered Rikki, who started to squint at it.

"Cleo, what is this? Why won't you tell us what's going on?" Rikki asked, throwing the napkin aside when she couldn't read it.

"I know what's wrong with Cleo, I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier." Ursula said in a disgustingly calm tone. She played the perfect victim role, keeping her eyes downcast and pressing a napkin to her bleeding arm. "We got in a, erm, very _heated_ argument while we were swimming earlier. She lost her voice from yelling at me. I tried to tell her that I had to leave town, but she didn't want me to go." Ursula smiled sheepishly at Cleo. "She felt like I, I don't know, betrayed her or something.

"Aww, Cleo…" Bella said. "If she has to leave, you have to let her go. We'll meet other mermaids someday."

Cleo wanted to cry with frustration. Couldn't they see how furious she was?!

When Rikki and Bella weren't looking, Ursula looked Cleo in the eye and winked at her. "I better go and pack now. It's been great meeting you all. I'll miss you! Hope to see you again someday." She said cheerfully. Her necklace glinted in the sunlight.

It was now or never, Cleo knew. Ursula was already walking away. With a silent grunt of effort, Cleo launched herself at the smaller girl, successfully tackling her to the ground. Many of the customers screamed or ran out of the restaurant, but she didn't care.

"Ah! Cleo, get off of me!" Ursula shrieked. Cleo grabbed her hair and pulled as hard as she could. She obviously wasn't much of a fist-fighter, but hair-pulling was just as effective as giving someone a black eye. "You psycho!"

Rikki tried to grab her arm and stop the fight, but Cleo pulled away from her. She didn't know exactly what she was doing, but her fingers found the chain around Ursula's throat and she pulled until it broke. The shell shattered in her hands and finally, _finally_ , Cleo's voice seemed to work again.

Ursula opened her mouth to scream…but nothing came out. Her hands frantically searched for the necklace that was no longer secured around her throat.

Bella and Rikki—not to mention all of the random strangers in the café—were both very, very confused.

Cleo screamed with happy excitement. "My voice is back!"

Ursula opened her mouth and again, nothing came out. Cleo smiled and took her hands off of the girl.

"What the _hell_ is going on? You're driving all my customers away!" Rikki hissed at her.

She was about to suggest that they all go somewhere private to talk about it when Lewis ran inside, breathless and sweaty.

"Rikki…Cleo…she…Ursula…" he panted, running over to them.

"It's okay Lewis. I can explain now." Cleo told him.

"Your voice…" he said with surprise. "It's back! Man, I need to work out more."

"Can you please explain what just happened here?" Bella asked anxiously.

Cleo pulled them all—including Ursula—into the back room and told them her story. By the end of it, Rikki and Bella had inched away from the no-longer-mermaid and were sending her accusatory glances.

"What should we do with her?" Rikki asked, referring to Ursula.

"She definitely doesn't have any mermaid powers anymore." Cleo said. "But she might still be a witch." She lowered her voice. "What if she finds another mermaid and starts stealing powers again?"

"Without a voice, I don't think she'd be able to say the spell." Bella said logically.

"Let's take her to the Marine Park shark exhibit." Rikki suggested. "During feeding time."

"Rikki!" Bella exclaimed.

"Kidding."

"She's virtually harmless now." Lewis said. "Maybe we should just…let her go?"

Cleo shrugged. Ursula had put her in a life-threatening situation, but she didn't have the heart to wish the girl any serious harm. "I guess."

"Oh, fine." Rikki rolled her eyes and stalked over to Ursula. "You heard us. Now scram."

Silently, the witch cast her eyes down and scampered out of the office, hopefully to never be seen again.

From that day on, mermaids from all around the world discovered that their tails, powers, and voices had been returned to them. And they all lived happily ever after.

 **Cheesy ending, I know, but I couldn't resist! I hope you liked this chapter, it's inspired by The Little Mermaid (mostly by the Disney version). I feel like I haven't posted anything on here in ages so I wanted to upload a little teaser as to what this series will be about! I have a few other chapters written and a lot more planned, so I'll try to upload soon! Let me know what you think of this chapter and what other fairy tales you'd like to see a one-shot of. Thanks for reading x**


	2. Chapter 2

Oh so carefully, Emma Gilbert stepped into a rickety old motorboat and sat next to her brother, Elliott. She knew it was dangerous to be this close to the water, but she and Elliott had been cooped up for far too long.

They were about halfway done with their trip around the world. They had visited many major cities in Asia and Europe, and were about to head into Africa. Their last European stop was in Athens, Greece. It was a beautiful place…when it wasn't raining.

They had arrived four days ago and it hadn't once stopped raining. Being a mermaid who transformed whenever she touched water, this caused a lot of problems for Emma. She missed out on seeing all of the beautiful locations and architecture. There simply was no other choice. Finally, on their second to last day here, the sun had come out and Elliott was itching to explore.

Her parents were usually very overprotective, but since started the world trip they'd begun letting Emma and Elliott have more independence. So long as they stayed together and texted occasionally, they could do pretty much whatever they wanted.

Her brother had decided that he wanted to explore one of the islands off the coast of Athens, so Emma agreed. They rented a motorboat for the day and Emma had carefully gotten directions to the island.

"Okay…we need to go three kilometers due south and then five kilometers west." Emma said aloud, studying the map a local had given her. The directions were in Greek, but the map was fairly easy to follow.

Elliott helped her start up the boat and then they rode south. It was a short and simple ride, but when they traveled the correct number of kilos they ended up about an equal distance from four different islands.

"Which one do you think it is?" Elliott asked her. "I don't see buildings on any of them."

"We must have followed the directions wrong." Emma said, pulling out the map again. "These islands aren't even shown here."

"It's probably that one." Elliott pointed at the one directly west. "Maybe we didn't go the full five kilo's west."

"Or it could be that bigger one." Emma argued. "We also might not have gone far enough south. Or maybe we went too far south and it's that one…" she looked to the island in the north.

Elliott brightened. "We could go to all of them!"

Emma let out a nervous laugh. "I don't think we'll have time for that…let's pick one for now and maybe we'll find someone we can ask."

Her little brother pointed to the westernmost island, so Emma drove the boat in that direction. She shivered suddenly, and she wasn't sure why. It was sunny out…but something didn't feel quite right. She glanced behind her and saw that the other three islands were now shrouded in fog, completely out of sight.

Although her instincts were telling her to head back to the mainland and spend the day by the pool instead, the excitement on Elliot's face kept her going until they reached the chosen island.

She had to admit, there didn't seem to be anything sinister or strange about the area. In fact, it was beautiful. They had the pristine white beach all to themselves. Elliot got out of the boat and eagerly dragged it to shore until Emma could step out onto the dry, hot sand. It was a strange texture; looking down, the sand seemed so be made of crumbled shells rather than tiny pieces of rock.

"Look!" Elliott dove to the ground and emerged with a perfect sand dollar.

Emma crouched down next to her brother. "Now that we're here, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know…" he looked around thoughtfully. "Should we walk around the beach or go into the rainforest?"

She peeked into the forest. It looked dense and dark, more of a jungle than anything else. "Let's walk around the beach first. Maybe we'll find a better spot to go in."

"Good idea!" Elliot exclaimed. He took off running, kicking up sand behind him as he went. Emma ran after him and quickly overtook him. They slowed to a jog, and then a walk. Every once in a while they found something interesting to look at, but there were no breaks in the trees to show a trail or a path they could follow. The island wasn't exactly big, but getting lost in the forest wasn't appealing at all.

Elliot grabbed her arm and pointed at a break in the trees up ahead. "What do you think is over there?" he asked, and didn't wait for her answer. He sprinted to the gap and Emma was forced to run after him.

"Woah!" he exclaimed. "It's a waterfall!"

As far as waterfalls went, it wasn't very large, but it was definitely beautiful. Pink, purple, orange and yellow flowers bloomed all around it. The stream that fed the waterfall was crystal-clear, and the rocks that formed it were smooth and pale gray. She wished she had her camera.

Looking past the waterfall, Emma saw that the stream created a perfect trail for them to follow into the jungle. They could explore without getting lost.

Emma pointed this out to her brother and he eagerly started on the makeshift pathway.

The stream narrowed and became very twisty. The rocks that lined either side of the stream were damp and slippery; Emma avoided them as best as she could, but it wasn't easy unless she wanted to lose sight of the path. After about a ten minute walk, the path was nearly indecipherable. If it wasn't for the creek, they would have lost their way for sure.

"Did you see that?" Elliot called from somewhere up ahead. He was nearby, but in this jungle she couldn't see him at all.

"See what? I can barely see you!" Emma called to him, laughing.

"It looked like a big squirrel…no…a red panda!" he said. "I'm going to go get it!"

She heard branches cracking as her brother took off into the forest.

"No! Elliot!" Emma shouted and ran after him.

The jungle was so dense that Emma felt like it swallowed the noise. "Elliot!" she yelled again. There was no reply. She couldn't hear footsteps, breaking branches, or any other sound that could tell her where her brother was.

Emma continued shouting his name and jogging in the direction she thought he went. In no time she was twisted around. Everything in the forest looked the same and different. She couldn't see the creek they'd been following or any distinctive markers. Emma knew it wasn't smart to continue wandering around. Hopefully Elliot would have the same idea…but if neither of them moved, how would they find each other?

"This is the twenty-first century." Emma grumbled to herself as she remembered the obvious solution: her cell phone. She pulled it out and checked for a signal. One bar. She sighed in relief and called Elliot.

After several rings, a crackly voice answered: "Hello? Emma?"

"Elliot? Can you hear me?" Emma said. The service was terrible.

"Ki….of." the bad reception cut off part of his answer.

"Do you know where you are? Do you see anything that you could use to tell me where you are?" Emma demanded.

"There's a cabin." She thought she heard him say.

"A cabin?" she said into the phone.

"Yes. I don't….where I…" his voice dissolved into static and eventually the call was cut off.

Frustrated, Emma checked her phone and saw that she had no signal. She shoved it back in her pocket and continued walking.

She figured that the island couldn't be very large, so she would simply walk in a straight line. She and Elliot would run into each other sooner or later. She occasionally yelled out his name but never got a reply.

At last, just up ahead she saw a patch of sunlight. _The beach!_ She ran forward but instead of a sandy beach she found a grassy clearing with a log cabin in the very center of it. It must've been the one Elliott mentioned on the phone!

She was about to yell his name but caught herself. The cabin didn't look abandoned. It was possible someone was inside, and she didn't want to catch their attention. It might not be safe.

Emma pressed her back to the nearest tree and used it to hide herself while she worked out a plan. A few moments later, she slid behind the tree to her right…and again a few moments after that…and again…

Soon she had circled around the cabin and was close enough to the back window to see in. It was definitely occupied. She looked into what appeared to be a cozy sitting room; there was a couch with a patchwork quilt, an old rocking chair, and a fire lit in the fireplace. The room was empty.

It definitely didn't look like the secret hideaway of an ax murderer, but Emma was still suspicious. She waited for several more minutes, hoping the resident of the mysterious cabin would appear. Soon enough, they did.

Emma's tensed body immediately relaxed when she saw a kindly old lady walk into the sitting room, grab something Emma couldn't see, and walk back out. Still, it was better to be safe than sorry. She emerged from the treeline and walked back to the front door of the cabin, where she knocked loudly.

It took a while for the lady to answer the door, but she eventually did with a smile.

"Oh, my. You must be the sister." She said. The woman was wearing a long floral printed dress, a knitted white sweater, and a thick gold necklace. Emma wondered how she could stand the heat.

"Yes!" she said in relief. "Is my brother with you? I hope he isn't being a bother."

"Of course not, dear, he's lovely company." The woman chuckled. "Please come in, you must be thirsty."

Emma thanked her and took a step inside. Seeing that the lady was wearing socks, she kicked off her dirty shoes and set them to the side.

"I didn't catch your name." she led Emma past the kitchen and into a dining room. Emma looked around anxiously, hoping to see Elliot, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"I'm Emma. It's nice to meet you, I'm sorry for barging in like this." She apologized again.

"Don't be! Your brother and I were just about to have a snack while we waited for you. Muffin?" the woman produced a tray of assorted muffins out of nowhere.

"No, thank you." Emma tried to decline politely, but the lady pouted, so Emma carefully selected a blueberry muffin.

"Where is Elliot?" she asked curiously, taking a bite. It was delicious. "We really should be getting home soon. Our parents will be worried."

For just a moment, the woman's smile faltered. "He's just in the back with my husband. He got a few cuts and scrapes in the forest, we didn't want them to get infected."

Emma took another bite. "Do you have any children of your own?" she asked.

"No, no. Every once in a while some children come to explore on our island, like you and your brother, but other than that…" she got a sad, wistful sort of look in her eyes and Emma decided to drop the subject. She noticed that Emma had finished her muffin. "Have another."

Emma picked up another and bit into it. She was feeling very tired after her adventure through the woods. "I didn't catch your name, by the way." She realized.

The woman chuckled. "Perceptive, aren't you? You don't need to know my name."

And uneasy feeling swept through her body, but it was overtaken by a wave of fatigue. She was so unbearably tired. She caught an evil look from the old lady before she fell unconscious.

Xxx

Emma's eyes fluttered open. Sleep threatened to take her again, but her memory came back to her and she forced herself to be alert.

She sat up and stretched her limbs. She blinked away her drowsiness and tried to work out where she was. It was difficult; wherever the old woman had put her, it was almost completely pitch black. It seemed like a small room; larger than a closet, but smaller than a bedroom. There were no windows. She couldn't see well enough to know where the door was, if there was a door at all.

Emma heard someone breathing deeply beside her. She spread her arms out in the area until they found the sleeping Elliot's shoulder. She shook him awake urgently. It was no easy task.

"Wha…? Wha's goin' on?" he asked.

"Are you okay?" Emma asked him.

"Emma? I'm okay…but where are we? What happened?" the poor kid sounded so confused.

"I don't know exactly. After you called me I found the cabin you were talking about and an old lady gave me muffins and I think they had some sort of drug in them." Emma said, trying to sound calm but failing miserably.

"I ate the muffins, too." Elliot whimpered. "Do you think it was poison?"

"No, probably just some sort of sedative." Emma reassured him. "Now that we're both awake, we should be okay."

"Until _she_ comes back." He said. "What does she want with us, anyway?"

"I don't know." Emma said slowly. But when the evil woman did return for them, she was going to get a very cold welcoming. Emphasis on _cold_. She flexed her fingers in preparation.

Her stomach was rumbling again by the time the woman came back for them. Emma had told Elliott to be prepared to escape; now seemed like as good a moment as any.

"Back away from the door. I have a gun!" the woman shouted at them through the door. Her voice had taken on an awful, raspy quality that Emma hadn't noticed before.

"Do what she says." Emma whispered to Elliott. The siblings backed up until they were against the far wall.

She opened the door and light spilled in, blinding them both for a moment. Emma could see that the woman did, in fact, have a gun, it hadn't been a trick to get them to cooperate. She carried the handgun in her right hand and a plate of food in the other.

"Don't want you two starving before I sell you off." She cackled.

"Sell us to who? What do you want with us?" Elliott's voice shook.

"Young people like you make good workers in the coal mines. I can make a pretty penny off of you two. The girl may even end up working the streets, if that pays better." She dropped the plate of food on the floor. Emma shuddered. 'Working the streets' as in…prostitution?

If there had been a doubt in Emma's mind before, there wasn't any longer. Behind her back, she made her hand go flat and directed the cold energy at the woman's hand, the one that was carrying the gun. She watched as frost formed on her fingers and the woman screamed. The gun dropped to the floor.

"Go, Elliot!" Emma yelled. The two jumped up and ran. Emma shoved the old woman aside and pushed past her, into the house.

In a flash the lady was back up and running after them. Emma turned and used her power again, this time on her feet. The woman fell down again; Emma hoped she had frostbite. The two siblings left the woman screaming in pain on her living room floor.

With renewed energy, Emma and Elliot ran in as straight of a line as they could through the dark forest. It was nighttime and they could hardly see where they were going.

"What did you do back there?" Elliot gasped.

"I'll explain later. First we have to get back to the beach. Just keep going!" she told him.

Elliot was out of breath by the time they saw a break in the trees. They collapsed on the sand, panting. Thankfully, the moon was out so they had light to see. In the distance, she saw their silver boat glinting in the moonlight. Emma tugged her brother to his feet and they set off on a much shorter journey.

"We're safe." Emma breathed when she touched the cool metal of the boat. Elliot climbed inside of it and laid down.

Emma started up the boat and they zoomed away from the island. She carefully committed it to memory so that when they called the police, she could tell them where to look for the crazy old woman.

They made it home, covered in dust, dirt, and sand, at nearly 3 o'clock in the morning. Their parents were frantic and several policemen and women were at their hotel.

Emma told their story while Elliot curled up next to their mum. When it came to the part about how she escaped, she wasn't sure exactly what to say. Elliot picked up the story from there.

"We found an old baseball bat in the basement and Emma used it on the old lady when she opened the door to give us food." Her brother cut in. Emma looked at him gratefully.

Emma revealed her secret to Elliot the next day and swore him to secrecy. She informed her friends about what had happened and they were all extremely concerned. After what they had been through, her parents canceled the rest of their trip and they were going to fly back to the Gold Coast in a few days.

For several days after their ordeal the police searched for the mysterious, uncharted island that the old woman inhabited. Emma even looked for it herself in mermaid form. It was as if it had disappeared, and taken their captor with it. But the old woman continued to haunt Emma's dreams for months to come.

xxx

 **I hope you liked this chapter! It's (loosely) inspired by Hansel and Gretal. It's a little bit of a darker story but I had fun writing it. If you haven't been able to tell, some of the stories will be focused on only one character and others will include them all or one of the groups of three. As always, if you have any fairy tale suggestions please comment them!**

 **Thanks to Charmedhpgirl, AudreyCariba, mermaidbyheart, LabRatFlutieKat, H2o fan, AmazingGracieGurl, and Ant3071998 for reviewing, especially Ant2071998 for your suggestions! Also big thanks to anyone who followed/favorited this story I really appreciate it :)**

 **Xx Katie**


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm sorry Bella, you know we don't have a choice—" Bella's father yelled after her as she flew out the door, tears streaming down her face.

Her family was constantly moving. She was born in Australia, then they moved to Japan, then South Africa, then back to Australia, then to America, then England and now she had finally gotten settled here in Ireland. She was nine years old! Nine years old and she'd never had a best friend, never been in a regular school. Her parents had promised her that they would stay in Ireland for at least a year. But, as usual, it had been six months and she was being forced to leave again.

Bella ran as fast as she could, not really caring where she went. Her Ireland home was in a cliffy area by the sea, and she had explored quite a lot of the trails. She went down a familiar path till the trail ended, then took another one she had never been on before. This process repeated again and again until she was sure she'd ran a 10k.

She stopped to rest and gather her thoughts on a rock that lay along one of the paths. She wished she would have brought some food with her. Running away didn't seem like such a good idea now that she was hungry.

With a sigh, Bella stood up again and kept walking, albeit a bit more cautious. She realized that she had no idea where she was or how to get back home. If only there were houses, buildings, people, anything around here that she could use as a landmark. If she could just find a telephone…

Suddenly, getting lost out here seemed much scarier than facing another new school.

In a grove of trees up ahead, Bella thought she could see a thatched roof. She looked closer and confirmed it—a house! There was even a thin trail of smoke coming from the chimney. She knew she wasn't supposed to talk to strangers, but this was an emergency.

Bella ran through the trees and to the house. It wasn't really a house, now that she was up close. It was more of a cottage—a cabin, even. She knocked on the door and waited. And waited. She knocked again, waited again…still nothing.

"Hello?" she called/yelled into the house, knocking even harder. "Is anyone home?"

No one answered, but there were lights on in the house. Perhaps they were in the bath and couldn't hear her?

She tried the door handle and found that it was unlocked. Curiosity got the best of her and she slowly crept inside. Again, she tried calling out for someone but received no answer.

Bella removed her muddy shoes and padded to the nearest room, which happened to be a small kitchen. The cottage was very quaint. The windows were shaped like little portholes, and interesting shells and photos of sealife covered the walls and shelves. Bella had always loved the sea, so the nautical theme intrigued her.

Although the home seemed to be empty, lunch was sitting out on the table. Bella's stomach rumbled. Surely no one would mind if she just…?

Without another thought, Bella walked over to the table and picked up the sandwich. She took a big bite and immediately recoiled in disgust. She hated tuna sandwiches.

After thoroughly scraping her mouth, she moved on to the next sandwich. This time she picked it apart to see what it was made out of—baloney, pickles, and mayo. Bleh.

The last sandwich on the table was a good old ham sandwich, which she devoured quickly. After she finished it, she began to feel guilty. She had just walked into someone's home and ruined their meal. Hopefully whoever lived here wouldn't be too angry—she was just a lost little girl, after all.

Bella decided that she wouldn't meddle with anything else. She would go into the living room and wait for someone to come home.

She found the living room and her eyes immediately widened. At first, it looked like the sitting room she had in her home—leather sofa, a variety of chairs, a television—but at the edge of the room there was a pool lined with rock that led to the outside.

"Wow!" she exclaimed, rushing over to the pool. It was filled with marine life and she could see tiny tidal rings coming in and out of the opening. It was even connected to the ocean!

Much as she wanted to take a swim, Bella knew she shouldn't. She needed to wait politely until someone came to help her. She went to the nearest chair, a wooden stool, and sat on it. She waited. And waited. And waited…so long until her butt started to hurt. She stood and moved to a different chair. This was a cozy-looking armchair.

It was cozy. _Too_ cozy. Bella's eyes started to feel heavy and yawned constantly. She knew she would fall asleep if she stayed in that chair any longer, so she moved to the couch. It felt just right.

She waited for another twenty minutes or so until the restlessness took over; she was SO BORED. The hard part was, the living room was full of interesting things, from the tidal pool to the shelves to the family photographs. She figured it would be okay to look at _some_ of the things while she waited. Look, but not touch, she told herself.

First, she looked at the mysterious pool. She thought about going for a swim, but she couldn't risk someone walking in and seeing her in mermaid form. Instead, she amused herself by looking at all the pretty shells, starfish, and rocks.

Soon enough she got tired of crouching beside the pool. She went over to the family photographs. They were all pictures of three different people: a black haired little boy, probably around Bella's age, a blonde woman she assumed was his mother, and a black haired man she assumed was his father. There were photos of the family on the Irish cliffs, on a tropical beach, next to a Christmas tree, and so on. There were also some baby pictures of the young boy and a wedding photo of his parents.

Bella turned to the shelves next. There were some amazing artifacts, from rare seashells to old statues.

Suddenly, she heard a noise behind her.

"I'm starving!" a boy exclaimed. Bella whipped around to see the boy from the photos sitting in the pool, a long blue tail fanning out behind him. Two more figures swam in, a blue-tailed man and an orange-tailed woman.

The family were merpeople, just like her.

 **Ending with a cliffhanger on this one! It's a bit shorter than the others I've done so far, so let me know if you like the longer or the shorter stories. If you couldn't tell, it was based off of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The next one-shot will be centered around Rikki and it will be a good old princess fairytale!**

 **Thanks to mermaidbyheart, Charmedhpgirl, AudreyCariba, Ant03071988, LovingHarry and aliqueen16 for reviewing the last chapter! I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one as well, along with any fairy tale suggestions x**


	4. Cinderella Part 1

Rikki Chadwick's alarm went off Saturday morning at 6:00 am, like it had every Saturday for the past two years. For the average teen, Saturday was a day off of school and work and it was a day to relax or hang out with friends. For Rikki, however, it was chores day.

She yawned, stretched, and got out of bed, pulling on an old grey t-shirt and sweatpants. She quickly braided her hair and went downstairs to get to work. She always had a chore list a mile long on Saturdays.

 _Scrub the kitchen floor_

 _Vacuum the house_

 _Clean the toilets_

 _Make lunch—lasagna with salads, no tomatoes in Miriam's or mine_

 _Shake out the rugs_

 _Wash the cars_

 _Do the laundry including the bedding, make beds when done_

 _Water the plants_

 _Clean the mirrors_

 _Take out the trash_

And on and on it went. Rikki put headphones in her ears and listened to music as she worked (from a hand-me down iPod, of course). It made the time go by much faster. Unfortunately, that meant the rest of the household woke up.

Rikki's father was the first to wake up. Rikki already had breakfast made for him: three strips of bacon, some toast with vegemite and a glass of orange juice.

"Thanks, honey. It'll be another long day at the shop."

A few years ago a company Rikki's dad had invested in made a ton of money, therefore making her dad a lot of money, too. He'd used the money to open up his own mechanic shop, which turned a nice profit. He'd expanded the one shop into three and was going to open his fourth in Brisbane soon.

With the money came women. One woman, in particular. Priscilla Kent. Mr. Chadwick fell head over heels for her and they were married in a matter of months. Priscilla moved in and so did her daughters, Miriam and Lilian. Miriam was Rikki's age, Lilian was two years younger.

Rikki's dad was away a lot so Priscilla was left in charge of the house and of Rikki. She treated her stepdaughter like a servant and her own daughters like princesses. Rikki had been putting up with the awful woman for two years.

She was occasionally able to get back at her step-family; she had a secret that none of them knew about. With the help of her friends, Cleo, Emma, and Bella, she could cause trouble with her family being none the wiser about what was going on.

"RIKKI!" She heard Priscilla scream from the bedroom. "Go get the mail!"

Rikki sighed. The step-monster was awake, too, it seemed.

"I'll get it, sweetheart. Make yourself some breakfast, you deserve it. And make sure that while I'm gone those sisters of yours do some work! They should get their hands dirty every once in a while." Her dad stood up and went outside to their mailbox. He worked long hours every day and didn't realize how badly his wife was treating his daughter.

Rikki fixed herself a huge plate of food and scarfed it down quickly. The sooner she was done with her chores, the better. Hopefully she would get to see her friends at least once this weekend.

"A letter from Harrison Bennett?" her dad scoffed, coming back inside with the mail. "I guess this is it, Rikki, we've made it big now that we're invited to a party at the Bennett's."

"The Bennett's?" Rikki's stepsister Miriam asked, yawning as she walked down the stairs. Miriam had a huge crush on Harrison's son Zane, even insisting that he was her boyfriend though he didn't give her the time of day.

"We just got an invitation to…" Rikki's dad said, opening the letter. "A masked ball!"

"Who's included in 'we'?" Miriam asked, narrowing her eyes at Rikki.

Out of her two stepsisters, Miriam and Lillian, Miriam was definitely the worst. They were in the same grade at school and therefore she had made it her mission to ruin Rikki's life at home and at school. Lilian was also horrible, but she was a few years younger.

"Well, the whole family, I suppose. I'm not sure I'll be going—seems too fancy for me!" Mr. Chadwick laughed.

"Going to what?" The queen of mean herself, Priscilla, entered the kitchen and the conversation. Mr. Chadwick explained the invitation to his wife, who was delighted to be invited to the party of the year. Her and Miriam started talking about dresses and masks while her father went off to work, leaving Rikki alone with the hateful women.

In general Rikki wasn't one for fancy parties and dresses, but a masked ball actually sounded fun. Sure, it was at Zane Bennett's house and he was an absolute pig, but everyone from school would be there. Of course, Priscilla would never agree to let her go; she didn't even have a dress.

After breakfast Rikki started working again. Miriam left to hang out with her friends, Priscilla and Lillian went shopping, so she was all alone. Rikki took a slight risk and called Cleo, Emma, and Bella and asked if they wanted to go for a swim. They all said yes and agreed to meet at Mako in twenty minutes.

Rikki was the last to arrive and when she popped her head out of the water, even her friends were talking about Zane's party.

"Not you, too." She moaned. "Miriam won't shut up about it."

"Are you going to go?" Emma asked, surprised.

"Probably not. I don't have anything to wear." Rikki said. "And Priscilla would never let me out of the house."

"Come on, Rikki, we're all going to go." Bella said. "I'm sure we could sneak you out for just one night."

"And it's a masked ball so even if you did run into Miriam or Priscilla they wouldn't recognize you!" Cleo added.

"I could lend you something if you'd like. I think we're the same size." Emma offered.

"You can look through my dresses, too." Cleo said. Bella immediately offered her closet as well. Rikki was touched.

"I guess I can go." She relented. "As long as I'm back before Miriam and Priscilla."

"Yes!" Cleo cheered. "How about everyone comes to my house for lunch and we'll go through each other's dresses?"

The other three quickly agreed. Bella and Emma swam off to go get their dress selections while Cleo and Rikki took their time swimming back to Cleo's house. Soon enough, Cleo's bed was covered in a rainbow of dresses.

For Rikki, it was easy to determine which dresses belonged to which of her friends. The longer, blue ones were Emma's while the pink and purple ones were from Cleo. Bella had a larger variety, but most of them were green, yellow, and turquoise.

None of the dresses really jumped out at her but she had fun helping her friends choose. They each decided on a dress, although they worried that they weren't fancy enough for the event. Any party at the Bennett's was like a red carpet affair, or so she'd heard.

Rikki wasn't crazy about any of the dresses there, but she also wasn't picky. She found a simple black beaded one and was happy with it.

"I think we're forgetting something." Emma said with a frown. "Isn't this a masked ball? Where are we supposed to find masks?"

"Let's try the costume shop downtown!" Cleo said. "I could use some new shoes, as well."

They all laughed. Cleo's overflowing closet definitely did not need another pair of shoes.

The girls walked about a kilometer to the costume store, which Rikki did not remember seeing before. It was a little hole in the wall, but the inside was surprisingly big and every single space was filled with clothes, masks, and props. Unfortunately, most of the masks seemed to be of the Halloween variety, not the kind you'd where to a party.

Rikki had to admit, most of the costumes didn't look like costumes at all. They were more like works of art—possibly even handmaid. She touched the fur on a werewolf mask and it felt so…real. She shivered.

"Hey guys, come look at this!" Bella called to them from the back of the store. Rikki glanced over at her and saw her carrying a green sequined skirt that flared out at the end with a seashell bra. A mermaid costume.

She was about to make a joke when she saw it—the most beautiful dress she'd ever seen. It was a pale champagne color, almost a blend of silver and gold, like sunlight. It went to the floor in soft waves, reminding her of something Grecian, or maybe Italian. Sure enough, when she looked at the label it was a Roman goddess costume. Better yet, it was on sale and appeared to be her size.

"Rikki, we found the—" Emma came over to her but paused when she saw the dress. "Wow."

"Isn't it pretty?" Rikki said, the simple sentence coming out girlier than she had intended it to.

"You have to try it on. Oh! And I found the perfect mask!" Emma rushed off while Rikki found a dressing room.

The dress slipped on like silk, the shimmery material floating around her legs. She found most dresses uncomfortable, but this felt like it was made just for her. She walked out to applause from her friends and she blushed.

Rikki noticed that her friends had found other dresses, too. They were much fancier than the sundresses they'd picked out at Cleo's house before. Cleo fell in love with a short strapless gypsy-style dress while Bella had modified the mermaid costume from before. She wore the skirt/tail of the costume as a dress and the beaded, sparkly green looked amazing on her. Emma, meanwhile, had settled on a white fringed flapper dress from the 1920's section. She said it made her look like Daisy Buchanan, whoever that was.

"Try this on." Emma handed her a golden mask that looked like it was made of golden laurels, the leaves that Greek champions were given when they won something. It matched her dress perfectly, although the metal mask felt a bit tight and uncomfortable on her face.

Cleo had found a pink and black feathered mask, Bella a golden crescent-moon shaped mask that covered half her face, and Emma a simple silver mask embellished in pearls. Everything was perfect. They all paid and walked out of the store happily, talking about how much fun the party would be.

Rikki realized that it was getting late so she said goodbye to her friends and started for home. Hopefully her stepmother and stepsisters weren't home yet so they wouldn't know she had left…

It seemed she had run out of luck. All three members of her stepfamily were sitting around the kitchen table when she walked in. Rikki tried to hide the bag from the costume shop behind her back, but she could tell it had caught Miriam's eye.

"Where have you been?" Priscilla demanded. "I did not give you permission to go out."

"I was over at Cleo's." Rikki said. There was no use arguing with Priscilla; she had learned her lesson after dozens of incidents, which usually ended up with her being grounded and subjected to even more chores than usual.

"Then why do you have a shopping bag?" Miriam asked gleefully. That girl lived to get Rikki in trouble.

"Oh, this?" Rikki pulled the bag from behind her back. "Cleo's letting me borrow some clothes."

"For what? You have plenty of clothes." Priscilla snapped.

"There's a mask in there!" Miriam said. Sure enough, the outline of the mask was visible through the thin plastic of the shopping bag.

"And a dress!" Lilian added. The two sisters glanced at their mother, knowing it would be Priscilla who would have the final say. Priscilla was silent for a long, agonizing moment.

"Why on Earth do you have a dress and a mask?" she finally asked.

Rikki frowned. Surely it was obvious. "For the masquerade party we were invited to."

" _We_?" Priscilla smiled. "I don't remember seeing your name on the invitation."

"Let me look at it, it was addressed to the whole family." Rikki argued. She usually didn't bother to fight back but this time Priscilla would _not_ be taking this way from her.

"I'm afraid it was…thrown away with the rest of the junk mail." Her stepmother waved away Rikki's argument. "You do realize it's a society party, don't you Rikki? We can't have you there representing the family. You're not ladylike. You're not graceful, or polite. You wouldn't want to make a fool of yourself, would you?" she smiled as Rikki's frown grew deeper.

"At least her mask can be put to good use…I haven't found one yet." Miriam sneered.

"Yes, let's see it." Priscilla stretched out a long, thin hand. Rikki sighed and dug out the beautiful golden laurel mask.

Miriam gasped. "It'll match my dress perfectly!"

"Then it's settled." Priscilla wrenched the mask out of Rikki's hands and lightly passed it to her oldest daughter. Rikki locked eyes with her stepmother and glared. For now, she would get away with this, but Rikki _would_ find a way to get back at her even if it meant a month of extra chores.

 **This chapter has been long overdue and I haven't quite finished it yet, but it's turning out to be a pretty long story so I decided to split it into two parts! With my past stories I rushed them whenever it seemed like they were taking a long time and I don't want to do that with this one so I hope you guys understand my late uploads. Also, writing from Rikki's POV again reminds me of my old story Hi, Society so if you haven't read that you know what to do!**

 **This Rikki/Cinderella chapter has been highly requested (big thanks to mermaidbyheart (or Blueeyedglamour on Instagram!)) for reminding me to update!**

 **And also thanks to aliqueen16, mermaidbyheart, DeafAngel2000, Ant03071998, and AudreyCariba for reviewing the last chapter! I hope you like this one as well!**


	5. Cinderella Part 2

The week had passed slowly. Rikki didn't put the incident with her stepfamily out of her mind for one moment—it served as fuel for her anger, allowing her to do everything she needed to ensure that her plan would succeed.

Yes, Rikki would be attending the Bennett's gala. She still had her gorgeous Grecian dress, the help of her friends, and some amazing mermaid powers.

She'd been laying low the past few days, trying to convince Priscilla that she'd given up on the masquerade. She did her chores, did her homework, and didn't once try to sneak out to see her friends. That took some serious commitment, but she did it.

Finally it was the day of the party. Rikki made an obvious show of throwing her hair in a messy bun, putting on her grungiest sweatpants, and suggesting that she was going to get an early night. Miriam, Lillian, and Priscilla had all booked professional hair and make-up appointments so Rikki could hear the sound of hair dryers coming from the living room.

"Oh Rikki!" she heard a saccharine voice call from downstairs. She peeked her head out of her room.

"What?" she answered, trying and failing to sound upbeat.

"I was just wondering if you would help me tie on my mask." Miriam asked, holding out the golden laurel mask. Rikki rolled her eyes and went downstairs. "It matches my dress perfectly, don't you think?"

Truthfully, Rikki didn't think it was possible to find a worse match, but she stayed silent. Miriam wore a garish hot pink dress that was covered from head to toe in silver sparkles. The delicate gold mask was way too elegant for the outfit, and the silver and gold clashed horrendously. Rikki bit her tongue and tied the mask to Miriam's face, perhaps a bit too tightly. Perhaps.

"Did they have to make this stupid thing out of metal?" Miriam complained, trying to get the mask to fit comfortably to her face. "It's digging into my skin. You can't even see my false eyelashes!"

Rikki rolled her eyes. "You look great." She lied.

Miriam smirked and went out to the foyer, where Lilian and Priscilla were waiting in gowns and masks of their own.

"Have fun." Rikki called halfheartedly.

"Oh, we will." Lillian said. She looked better than her sister in an aquamarine dress that was short in the front and long in the back. Priscilla, meanwhile, wore a burgundy satin gown with a black and white mask. Her stepfamily left as soon as their limo arrived and Rikki sprung into action.

She ripped her hair—rather painfully—out of her bun and ran upstairs to grab the bag her dress was in. From there she ran to Cleo's, hoping that she wasn't too late.

Cleo's room was a mess of hair products, makeup, shoes, and jewelry. Rikki's three best friends were crowded around Cleo's tiny mirror. The girls weren't in their dresses yet, which meant that Rikki wasn't too far off schedule. She should have enough time to get ready, especially if her friends helped with her hair and make-up, which she was dreadful at.

Bella finished her make-up and had Rikki sit down in a chair so she could do her hair. Rikki had no idea what she had done, but twenty minutes later it looked amazing. It was in a half-up, half-down style and her curls had more structure to them than they usually did. A few braids had also been thrown in.

Emma and Cleo helped each other into their dresses and then helped Rikki and Bella. All that was left was Rikki's make-up and then they'd be ready to party! With any luck, they'd arrive about fifteen minutes after the party started. They'd be "fashionably late", as Bella liked to say.

Emma got to work on Rikki's make-up while Cleo and Bella piled on bracelets, rings, necklaces, shoes, and of course, their masks. Cleo took over Emma's job so that Emma could get accessories for herself, too. The group was excellent at multitasking.

Cleo finished blending Rikki's eyeshadow and stepped back to admire her work. "I think we're ready to go!" she announced. Bella handed Rikki a pair of shoes. Unfortunately, they were much too large. The shoes Emma had brought were also too big, and Cleo's were too small.

Bella attempted to shove some toilet paper into the shoes to fill some of the space, which Rikki would have happily worn, but Emma faced them with another difficulty: a mask. In all of their planning about Rikki getting away from her stepfamily, they'd forgotten that she no longer had a mask!

"You guys should just go without me." Rikki said. "Maybe I'll try to make a mask or something and meet up with you later."

"No way! We'll help make you one. It wouldn't be fun without you there." Cleo said good-naturedly. The girls scoured the house looking for something to DIY with—aluminum foil, construction paper, fabric, cardboard…nothing seemed to work. The party had already started by the time they finished looking through all the cupboards.

"Really, you don't have to stay." Rikki continued to protest, but her friends continued to deny her offer.

They continued their search with no luck. Until…

"Cleo!" Emma exclaimed. "I can't believe I didn't think about it before, but…do you think you could make one?"

"What do you think I've been trying to do for the past five minutes?!" Cleo gestured to the hot glue gun, gold fabric, and cardboard around her.

"Not with arts and crafts, with magic!" she replied. Everyone turned to face her. "You could use water to mold a mask and then Bella could harden it with her power!"

Cleo beamed. "That's a great idea!"

"And anything is better than this." Bella said, holding up her aluminum foil attempt at a mask.

Rikki grabbed a glass of water and Cleo carefully pulled out enough water for a mask, drop by drop. She used her left hand to hold the water in the air and her right to shape it into a recognizable shape: two holes for the eyes, a curve for the nose, and a delicate feathering effect on the edges. She added a few finishing touches, compared it to Rikki's face shape, and motioned to Bella. "Ready."

Bella twisted her hand and the water solidified; the moment it did Cleo lost control of it and it fell. Thankfully, Rikki had been expecting that and she caught it just before it hit the floor.

Emma cheered and the girls gathered around to look. It truly was a masterpiece; the hardened water looked like clouded glass and felt almost rubbery. Rikki placed it on her face and the mask molded to fit her features exactly. Bella used her power to harden it even further, taking away the rubber effect and replacing it with a glasslike one.

Unlike Rikki's old gold mask, this one wasn't uncomfortable at all. It fit her perfectly and although it wasn't tight, she also didn't think it would be in danger of falling. Rikki hugged her friends tightly and thanked them over and over again.

Emma pulled away and arched an eyebrow. "Now for the shoes."

It took Cleo and Bella about five minutes to make a pair of water heels (they argued about the length of the heel) that also fit Rikki's feet like a glove. They were surprisingly durable. Rikki thought she could run a mile…you know, if she did that sort of thing. They were certainly up to a night of dancing!

The girls piled in Emma's car and drove a few kilos to the Bennett mansion. Rikki had never been inside of it before, but it looked beautiful, especially so tonight. The place was lit up with fairy lights and every guest was wearing a suit or a gown. The party was designed to be half indoor and half outdoor, with a dance floor outside near the water fountain and food served inside.

Emma parked the car and Rikki stepped out. In her gorgeous dress, with her features hidden behind a one-of-a-kind mask, she felt invincible. Even if she ran into Miriam, Priscilla, or Lillian, she doubted they would recognize her!

"This is going to be so much fun." Bella squealed. "Which one do you think is Will?" she whispered, looking at all the masked men standing on or around the dance floor.

"They're wearing masks, they haven't shape shifted!" Cleo laughed and pointed. Standing near the edge of the dance floor were two blonde boys, one with close cropped hair and the other with shaggier hair. Will and Lewis. A tall brunette guy with a black mask joined Lewis and Will, holding a few drinks. Ash.

Rikki's friends approached their dates. She loved seeing their jaws drop. Her friends looked stunning tonight.

"I'm going to get something to eat." Rikki said after they'd chatted for a while. She left the group and ventured inside, looking at all the beautiful furniture, architecture, and people. Several random people stopped her to compliment her, which was nice.

You'd think that the masks didn't conceal identities very well, considering most of them only covered the eye area, but Rikki didn't recognize a single person. She knew that most of the school had been invited. She wondered if anyone recognized her behind the crystalline mask that she wore.

The food table was fairly disappointing; Rikki wanted something filling, not the teeny-tiny servings of expensive cheese and crackers that were laid out. Nearby, she spotted a desert table. Perfect.

She grabbed a brownie and was just about to take a bite when she heard a familiar whiny voice coming from the next room.

"Ugh, just take it off! This stupid thing is digging into my skin—oww, Tiffany, be careful!" Miriam complained. Rikki caught a glimpse of her awful pink dress before she opened the nearest door and hid inside.

"Um, someone's in here—oh." She heard a voice from behind. Turning around, Rikki could see that she'd hid in a bathroom…an occupied bathroom. Her cheeks flushed, but thankfully the boy who'd spoken wasn't in any state of undress. Even his mask was on, his face hidden behind a full black and white mask. His suit looked impeccable and Rikki could see that he had brown hair and slightly tanned skin. "You can have the bathroom, I'll go hide somewhere else."

"You're hiding?" Rikki asked. "Why?"

"There's this girl I've been avoiding. I broke things off with her a while ago but she's been hovering around me all night." The boy moved to go past Rikki and to the door. "But it's okay, she's probably gone now. I'm sure you want privacy."

"I actually came in here to hide, too." Rikki said. This was strange; she didn't usually open up to people she'd just met. "I'm technically not supposed to be here."

"I won't say a word, I promise." The boy said. She couldn't see anything behind the mask, but she thought he was smiling. His voice sounded very familiar…maybe a boy from school? "Your mask looks really cool by the way."

"Thanks, my friends made it for me." Rikki replied, then wondered if she shouldn't have said that. Normal people couldn't exactly solidify water.

"It looks like glass." He added. "I have no idea where mine is from—my stepmom got it for me. I can barely breathe in this thing. Maybe she picked it that way on purpose." He laughed, but Rikki got the sense that he was being serious.

"My stepmom is the one who didn't want me to go tonight. She's awful, whenever my dad isn't around she treats me like dirt." Rikki admitted.

"Mine does, too. Or at best she treats me like a burden."

"I know what you mean." She said quietly. They were silent for a moment and Rikki realized that she still didn't know the masked boy's name.

"Are you going to eat that?" he interrupted her thoughts and motioned to her brownie. "I haven't had anything all day."

"I suppose we can share." Rikki laughed and handed him a piece of it. Their fingers brushed and she felt it like a bolt of electricity. She smiled without even meaning to.

The boy lifted his mask slightly to eat and Rikki couldn't help trying to get a glimpse of his face. She didn't see much, but he seemed to have slightly tanned skin and a nice smile. She could see his warm brown eyes through the mask, of course, and his brown hair. Again, she was struck by a sense of familiarity, but she figured that if he went to her school she would know him from somewhere. Perhaps they had a class together.

Rikki talked to him for a little while longer—they did go to school together, they both had English first period with Mr. Graham. After all that they had talked about Rikki felt strange asking him his name, so she didn't.

After cracking up at a joke Rikki made about a guy from their school named Nate, the boy looked at her almost with astonishment. "How have I never noticed you before?"

Rikki blushed but it was hidden behind her mask. "Are you sure you haven't? I do have a hidden identity, you know." She tapped on the crystal.

His fingers drifted towards the bottom of his mask, like he was going to pull it off. Rikki kind of wanted to do it herself for some reason, she couldn't explain the feeling. His hand dropped when there was a knock on the door.

"Zane! Zane, I know you're in there! We have guests who want to use the bathroom!" a woman shouted, pounding on the door.

Rikki's eyes widened as she glanced over at the boy she'd spent nearly an hour talking to. He'd been Zane Bennett, the rich, self-absorbed bad boy, all along?

"Sorry about this." Zane whispered to her. "Just a minute!" he called back to the woman. He turned back to Rikki. Now that she knew who he was, it seemed ridiculous that she hadn't guessed before. Zane was in her English class, he was always making a fool of himself. His dad had recently gotten remarried, too, which explained the stepmother incident. And the girl he was hiding from…that must be Miriam.

"I think I should go out first. It might look kind of bad if we, um, you know, go out together. People always assume things about me. I can leave first and then you can follow in a few minutes." Zane said.

"Okay." Rikki had no idea what to say. There were a lot of confusing and conflicting thoughts in her head.

Zane stepped out and gave her one last look before he shut the door. Rikki met his gaze, but didn't want to. Zane Bennett was her mystery man, the kind stranger who made her laugh?

A few minutes later there was a knock on the bathroom door. Rikki got to her feet, the crystal shoes making distinctive noises against the tile floor, and let the person in. "I was just finishing." She murmured on her way out.

Almost immediately she spotted a tall boy in a black and white mask dancing with a shorter girl in an awful pink dress and a beautiful—but uncomfortable—golden laurel mask. Miriam had latched her claws into Zane after all. Feeling a little disappointed, Rikki turned away and went to find her friends. The song ended just as she spotted Bella's green gown.

"Hey!" her friends greeted her. "Where have you been all night? The party is almost over."

"We were thinking we should leave soon. You have to get home and get changed before Priscilla does." Emma added, ever the logical thinker.

"The party ends at midnight." Cleo said. "So we still have about an hour."

Rikki stayed with her friends for a few minutes. She found herself something to drink until a slow song came on. Will, Ash and Lewis pulled her friends away to dance and Rikki hovered near the wall. Will, ever the gentleman, offered her a dance next but Rikki protested. This was a special night for Will and Bella; she didn't want to intrude. A little voice in the back of her mind whispered that she didn't want her masked man—she didn't refer to him by name—to see her dancing with another guy.

Another slow song came on and Rikki sighed. It looked like the party was dying down. Most of the attendants were either slow dancing, too drunk to do anything, or were finding their way home. Rikki grabbed a glass of fruit punch and waited for her friends, who continued to dance for several more songs.

She was just about to find a clock to check the time when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"I've been looking for you all night." It was Zane. "You disappeared after…"

"Yeah, my friends were looking for me." Rikki said.

"And you didn't find them?" Zane gestured around at the empty corner Rikki had been standing in.

"No, I found them, but they're all dancing."

Zane grinned at her, flipped his mask down so it covered his face again, and grabbed her hand. "Well then, let's join them."

Rikki couldn't help but laugh as Zane twirled her around the dance floor. She felt surprisingly graceful. Maybe it was the shoes, maybe it was Zane. Either way, she was having a great time. She barely noticed when Cleo approached her a few songs later.

"We have to go! It's almost midnight!" she pulled Rikki out of Zane's arms so quickly that she stumbled out of one of her shoes. "I just saw Miriam getting into the limo!"

"Wait, don't go!" Zane called after her.

Rikki grabbed Cleo's hand and they ran together for Emma's car. "See you in English!" she yelled back to Zane. She and Cleo had already piled into the backseat when she realized that Zane still didn't know who she was. He wouldn't know who to look for—their English class was massive.

As Emma drove away Rikki glanced back at the Bennett mansion to see Zane standing just outside the gate, holding Rikki's missing crystal shoe.

Xxx

The rest of the night was a blur. In the car, Bella and Cleo helped her get changed, take off her makeup, and mess up her hair while Emma drove like a madwoman to Rikki's house. She parked the car and Rikki dove out, motioning to her friends to drive away immediately.

Rikki ran inside and went to her room, trying to make it look like she'd been there all night. She hid her dress, mask, and shoe under the bed, popped in a movie, and put her hair in a bun. A few minutes passed and Rikki's heart stopped racing. She'd gotten away with it!

Her stepfamily arrived home. Rikki heard Miriam's heels stomping up the stairs and they continued all the way to Rikki's room. She barged in without knocking and then scrutinized Rikki's appearance. She held her breath but Miriam didn't seem to notice anything suspicious.

"You can have this awful thing back." Miriam tossed her the golden mask. She could see indentations on Miriam's face from across the room, even in the dim lighting.

"Maybe you shouldn't have taken it in the first place." Rikki muttered, but Miriam didn't hear. She left and no one else in the family came up to check on her. Rikki went to sleep and dreamt that she was dancing under the sea.

Xxx

The next day things went back to normal. Rikki did chores for the rest of the weekend, but her mind was a tangle of emotions. She had no idea what she was going to say to Zane on Monday. If she approached him, would he recognize her? Would he be embarrassed to have spent the party with her? Would Miriam find out that she was there?

She decided that Zane never needed to know that she was the masked girl that he'd danced with. He'd probably forgotten all about her, anyway. She was happy to have seen a different side to him, though, rather than the egocentric person he presented himself as in public.

Rikki tried not to think of him or the masquerade in general on Monday but she had to admit she was putting a little extra effort into her appearance that morning. She left her curls down and put on a little bit of the makeup Emma had lent her. English was her second class of the day and she was simultaneously excited and scared for it.

She took her regular seat next to Bella and waited for class to start. She was early for once and it didn't do her any good; she had a tendency to bite her nails when she was nervous, and they were chewed to the quick by the time Zane entered the room. They made eye contact for a split second before Rikki dropped her gaze.

Zane's seat was on the other end of the room but he slowly walked up the aisle to her seat. He pulled something out of his bag and Rikki looked up at him.

"I think this belongs to you." He said softly, holding out the glass shoe.

"How did you know?"

"I narrowed it down quickly." Zane shrugged. "No one else has such pretty eyes…or blonde hair."

Rikki took the shoe and put it in her bag. Zane went back to his seat as the English professor came in, but they continued to glance at each other throughout the class.

"What was that about?" Bella asked as soon as the bell rang. "Why did he have your shoe from the party? Did something happen with you two?"

Rikki smiled. "Maybe…"

Some nights were too magical for words.

x

 **I'm so sorry I haven't uploaded in ages, I've been really busy with work, my blog and my friends and now school is starting up again so I really won't be able to upload often. This may be the last one shot but I really wanted to finish it as it was so highly requested. The good thing about this series is I can pick it up whenever I want and anyone who wants to read it can jump into it at any chapter! :)**

 **Anyway, big thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! I haven't even started the next one shot so I wouldn't expect an update any time soon, but I have a lot of ideas so whenever I get free time I'd like to continue writing. In the meantime you can follow me on Instagram/Facebook/Twitter, my username is CaribaDaily (It's a Cariba Heine fanpage) and I promise I'm much more active on there.**

 **The next one shot will be either from Cleo, Lewis, or Charlotte's POV so comment which character you'd like to see a story about!**


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